Paul Rho
Bio: Paul Rho (b. 1989, Seoul, S. Korea) focuses on utilizing photography as a tool and material to expand its boundaries and to narrate his personal experience. His work includes photo documentaries, photo-sculptures, installations, and performances. He lives and works in New York.
www.paulrho.com
Instagram: @paulrho
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: Is photography only about imagery and storytelling? Is it possible for a photograph to exist without an image? Since the advancement of digital imaging, I have shifted away from digital technology. Instead, I spent more time with film, paper, cameras, and chemicals to better understand the medium.
After experimenting with various analog photo printing methods, the tactile aspect of photographs became essential to my practice. My interest in photography has shifted toward its materiality, and I see a possibility of repurposing the medium as a fabric, sculpture, and object.
Through my work, I am experimenting with the physicality of the photographic medium. By creating photo-sculptures, photography's original function—the ability to record— becomes a part of the medium rather than its sole role.
Tidal (15 min., looped, Gelatin silver on mulberry paper, metal, speakers, ceramic bells, video, and Hanbok (garment); 2023, Sound design by Julian Zehnder
Hanbok made by Cheonshik Yang)
First Year Exhibition
Tidal (7.5" x 7" x 7", Gelatin silver emulsion on mulberry paper, 2022)
